Video game kulture/kouture
Wudup my fellow game lovers, it is my great pleasure to formally welcome you to this little corner of the net where gaming and fresh gear meet.
So please, feel free to show some love…
…bookmark us…
…follow @gam3kop on twitter…
…and spread the word.
Play on,
gam3kop
StreetPass Cape Town
Mii’t & Greet: StreetPass CT Session 1 is coming soon.
Join us in spreading the word as we would love to have a huge turnout.
Click on the page link in the right column for more details.
Retro Ninty Logo
It’s blatantly obvious that this is Nintendo month.
It’s even more obvious that we are loving every second of it.
So now that we’re down to the last 10 days before the [soon to be] greatest handheld of all time goes on sale, we figured it may be good a opportunity to take a look back at the console’s humble origins.
Plaque At The Former Headquarters Of Nintendo
Considering Nintendo’s Hanafuda playing card beginnings in 1889, it should come as no surprise that their passion for portable gaming has continued well into the 21st century.
Traditional Hanafuda Cards
One only has to look at the AR (Augmented Reality) cards utilised with the new 3DS system, to see that core concepts which spawned the company are still very much intact.
3DS AR Cards
It certainly conjures up images of Yamauchi-san staring at one of his playing cards, thinking to himself “if only I could make these images spring to life”.
One cannot help but marvel at how the original vision of his company has come full circle and been fully realised.
Characters come to life on AR Cards
Over the next week and a half we will be paying homage to the original gangsters of the handheld gaming business.
10 days to go and 10 pieces of portable palm perfection.
From Game Boy to DS, we’ll reflect on one for each day leading up to the launch.
Check out the Nintendo Handheld Timeline page to brush up on your portable gaming history and bask in the nostalgia.
– “Leave Luck To Heaven”
In just over a week, we will bare witness to one of the most anticipated events on the South African gaming calendar.
Thanks to Nintendo South Africa (Core) we will be getting the inside scoop on the new 3DS handheld.
As most of you are already aware the 3DS will be released in SA on the 25th of March.
What we don’t know, however, is the price tag that it will carry.
There has been much speculation surrounding this minor detail, but we anticipate that Nintendo will put all hearsay to bed next Friday.
Most importantly we will be checking out the launch titles and finally get to see the 3d effect for ourselves.
Watch this space closely on the 4th of March as we will be bringing you all the exclusive pics and vids as the events unfold.
And as always, follow us on Twitter:
@gam3kop
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Thanks to a tweet from a major UK videogame retailer, we have some images of the first unofficial un-boxing of the 3DS.
It looks really slick in blue, although I still have my sights firmly set on the black one.
And best of all, the un-boxing has finally revealed the 5 previously unknown AR cards.
Mario, Link, Pikmin, Samus and Kirby will all soon be coming to life on our coffee tables via the augmented reality magic of the 3DS.
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Assassin’s Greed
[Just thought I would share this with ya’ll]
So I recently played through all three of the main titles from the Assassin’s Creed franchise (yes I was very delayed with the first game).
I have to say that a more addictive piece of gaming genius you will not find.
I mean gaming is essentially about total immersion in an alternate world, isn’t it?
And let me tell you, these games will have you so utterly engrossed in their environments that once its over, you will be on your knees begging for more.
I want my Assassin’s Creed 3 and I want it now.
Nay.
I need it.
[That’s all I wanted to say]
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November 10.
We phoned around all day and finally managed to track down a store that had a demo available.
Now I have been an avid follower of all things Kinect since it was announced as “Project Natal” and at long last the big day had arrived.
I must admit though that in the last few weeks leading up to the launch, my faith had begun to waver. After the bombshell was dropped that the machine’s capabilities would be dumbed down, in order to keep the price reasonable for the consumers already skeptical of its abilities, I myself began to wonder if Kinect would truly live up to it’s hype.
Walking toward the demo stand, I was as nervous as a 17 year old girl on prom night. Not knowing what to expect I slowly entered the Kinect’s field of vision and was greeted by an avatar mirror image of myself staring back at me.
Wow.
That is so freaken kool.
The 12 year old in me had resurfaced and had no fear of looking like a complete tool in front of a store full of people.
And that I did. Jumping, kicking and waving my arms like a mad man to help my virtual buddy achieve his goal of becoming the ultimate adventurer.
I walked in there unsure of whether or not I should part with my cash for this unexplored tech. When I walked out though, it was with a brand new Kinect proudly tucked under my arm.
I guess deep down I always knew that this device was a bit too special for me to simply overlook.
So please allow me to introduce you to the next era of gaming…welcome.
NUTS AND BOLTS
SENSOR:
Colour and depth-sensing lenses
Voice microphone array
Tilt motor for sensor adjustment
Fully compatible with existing Xbox 360 consoles
FIELD OF VIEW:
Horizontal field of view: 57 degrees
Vertical field of view: 43 degrees
Physical tilt range: ± 27 degrees
Depth sensor range: 1.2m – 3.5m
DATA STREAMS:
320×240 16-bit depth @ 30 frames/sec
640×480 32-bit colour@ 30 frames/sec
16-bit audio @ 16 kHz
SKELETAL TRACKING SYSTEM:
Tracks up to 6 people, including 2 active players
Tracks 20 joints per active player
Ability to map active players to Live Avatars
AUDIO SYSTEM:
Live party chat and in-game voice chat (requires Xbox Live Gold Membership)
Echo cancellation system enhances voice input
Speech recognition in multiple
ONE MONTH LATER
So we have been testing this fella for about a month since launch day.
It has certainly been an interesting (and exhausting) experience and one that will continue to invoke more intrigue.
The tracking of human bodies is on point but the extent of its accuracy is dependent on the game being played.
Kinect Adventures, which came bundled with the device, is a great party game but does lack some of the finer details required to hold the attention of more seasoned gamers.
On the other hand we got to experience the Minority Report inspired UI of Your Shape: Fitness Evolved, which truly sparked the excitement for what this baby is really capable of doing.
Seeing yourself fully immersed in the gaming environment and being able to interact with the world around you; now that was something special.
You may also have heard from various other sources that you need a massive amount of living room space for Kinect.
It is true that the bigger your joint is, the better your controller-less experience will be. That said, if you have about 5 to 6 feet of open space you are pretty much good to go.
The vocal recognition is also quite accurate. This is surprising in itself as this function was technically only made compatible for the US market when it launched.
Hopefully we will see an update soon that caters for the nuances of the various South African accents, but I wouldn’t get my hopes up on that one.
We haven’t had a chance to test out the Kinect’s functionality on XBL yet, but from what we have seen and heard everything works as promised.
One more thing I’d like to touch on is the object scanning function which was showcased in the first hype videos back in 2009.
I did some research and it seems that Sony managed to snatch up the patent to this tech before Microsoft (even though Sony had no plans of incorporating it in their motion control system).
There is some positive news though, as Kudo Tsunoda has recently announced that this tech will be featuring in future ‘core’ games.
Let’s hope this does not disappoint.
BEYOND GAMING
Within the first week of its launch Kinect grabbed the focus of many a hacker looking to unlock the device’s potential.
From new age puppetry, iPad motion integration, real world 3D mapping and Windows 7 gesture control; the developments made in the short time the tech has been available have been nothing short of revolutionary.
The one which has created the biggest stir is Evoluce’s use of the device to control the Windows interface.
A company that specialises in multi-touch control systems, Evoluce have managed to bring all our sci-fi dreams to life.
And this is only the beginning.
The word right now is that Kinect should be fully compatible with Windows and available to the public by next year, so start getting excited.
CONCLUSION
In the same way that the Nintendo Wii started a new era in gaming, the Kinect has completely revolutionised the way we interact with our on screen heroes.
Where the Move may have perfected the Wii remote, the Kinect has completely done away with it.
This in itself is reason enough to give the device a chance.
It has taken a bold step into the unknown and although the current list of games may be less than inspiring, the potential is undeniable.
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Xbox Live is set to launch in SA on November 10. South African’ s will be able to transfer already existing UK or US Xbox Live accounts onto the local Live network.
South African Xbox Live launch specials:
All 12 months subscriptions will get an additional 2 months free (at launch).
If you buy any Call of Duty game or bundle, you will be able to purchase a 14 month subscription (12months + 2months) at R399 (R200 off).
If you buy any Xbox console, you will be able to purchase a 14 month subscription (12months + 2months) at R399 (R200 off)..
Visit http://mybroadband.co.za/news/gaming/15864-Xbox-Live-South-Africa-pricing-and-launch-specials-explained.html for more details.
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It was a Thursday.
I was getting into some footy action on last years iteration of this much loved franchise, when I decided it was time to say my goodbyes to the outdated rosters.
I popped over to my nearest gaming retailer and managed to pick up the last copy of FIFA 11 on the shelf.
Lucky days.
Cracked open a brewsky once I hit home and loaded the scratchless disk on my BOX.
Finally Kaka appeared on the screen and the grin on my face began to widen.
So, 10 minutes into Barce vs Madrid and a few changes were immediately evident, the first being ball control.
CONTROL
As with last year’s game, FIFA 11 allows the player to either be assisted with passing, man marking and shooting or do it all themselves like the real sex crazed Rooney would.
Taking full manual control in ’10 was a challenge to say the least, but once perfected it alleviated any nasty little CPU hiccups from affecting your badass skills.
With FIFA 11, even when playing with the control assist set to full auto, it felt like the equivalent of full manual control in the previous game.
The slightest slip of the thumb when trying to lay down that perfect through ball sees the ball rolling out into touch for a throw in.
Needless to say they have raised the difficulty bar yet again and you will need to improve on that accuracy if you hope to emerge the victor.
SPEED
It is very clear from the beginning that the overall pace for each speed category has been slightly decreased.
Normal mode felt similar to the Slow setting of the previous game and I found myself opting for Fast in order for the game to have a balanced pace.
HANDBALLS
Ah yes, the long awaited ability to stick your hand out and stop your opponents cross mid flight. Amusing at first, this new maneuver quickly losses its cool factor and just becomes downright annoying.
As you would expect the player cannot perform a handball offense at will. Generally it boils down to you miss-timing your slide tackle and being very upset that you just conceded such a stupid penalty.
PENALTIES
If you played the World Cup: South Africa improvement on FIFA 10 then you will know all about these bad boys.
You have the usual strike power bar and of course you need to determine your shot’s direction. There is however, a third factor which now comes into play.
A colourful line at the bottom of the screen requires you to hit your shot in the green sweet spot, or your shot becomes a flop.
Seriously, these penalties are motherf***ing frustrating and they are going to drive me insane.
Anyway, moving on.
You have now also been given the ability to play the entire match and career as the goalkeeper which opens up a brand new gameplay avenue in the series.
The Personality+ behavioral system has also been applied to all characters (including CPU) giving each one a unique style and identity on the field.
OFF THE PITCH
So let’s have a look at some of the other changes that have been made.
FIFA 11 sees Manager Mode being replaced by a new Career Mode which keeps some of the old and introduces something fresh.
The player career allows you to either select an existing football star or create one of your own. You will then be given the opportunity to further your player’s career by playing sessions and cups to increase his worth during the transfer window.
Unlike Manager Mode you will not be able to make any decisions or alterations concerning the squad as a whole, but regular Manager Mode has been made available for those who wish to do so.
For anyone who likes to do a bit of both, these two modes have also been merged into a third career option which will see you going from rookie footballer to accomplished manager by the end of your run.
Other worthwhile additions include the ability to finally review all highlights at the end of the game, as well as save up to 5 replays for offline and online viewing pleasure.
Thank you EA and its about time.
Then there’s the EA trax listing which have featured in many other EA Sports titles before, but has been missing from the FIFA series.
VERDICT
This years FIFA fix is more of the same without being lame. Throw in some nice new touch up features and the all new Career Mode and you have a another good season to look forward to.
Now if I could only hit that ref square in the face…red card that biatch!
RATING
8.5 out of 10
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Look, I didn’t forget ok, just haven’t had a chance to update the site until now.
So happy birthday Nintendo NES for the 18th of October and we salute you for sparking that gaming fire under our asses.
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New Scorpion bio and wallpaper added:
Scorpion leaves behind a gory pile of blood-soaked bodies wherever he goes on an all-consuming mission to mercilessly slaughter his murderer Sub-Zero
Visit http://www.themortalkombat.com for more MK9 updates
October 1, 2010
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